Lecture via Skype. .

Martin Steenton - Blank Slate Book Publishing:One of our lecturers set up a "Skype chat" with Martin because he couldn't make it up to the university in person. Genius! 
It was a very insightful talk, I made the most notes of any other talks I went to throughout the week! So this may take some time. .

Martin currently works for Blank Slate, a comic book publisher.
He started out studying media in Uni, not knowing what exactly he wanted to go on and do but he had a passion for comics and so started a blog, with his girlfriend, about french comics. Through the blog he built up contacts and was soon getting calls for him to feature more comics on the blog, from the US and even the UK. Through the blog he was given the opportunity to translate for Blank Slate. He told us how important it was to get the initial buzz around yourself, and how useful the internet is for that. He worked for free, but wouldn't advise us to do artwork etc for free, he was simply doing behind the scenes things that he enjoyed but didn't necessarily cost him anything. It gets your foot in the door of the industry, something that Facebook, Twitter, blogs, going to conventions enables you to do. You need to get on the radar of those already in the industry and that the more visable you make your work, the better.

Sleepyheads by Randall C
Blank Slate

Publishing a book is something that I would love to do in the future, both in graphic novel format and childrens publishing. So it was very interesting to hear what it is that publishers are looking for, that often publishers have different styles that they lean toward. Firstly, when you take your idea to a publisher, some will only look at finished work, they're looking for a complete skill set. Whilst the smaller presses, like Blank Slate, are more accepting. They're more focused on finding new talent, aslong as you have a good idea behind and they can see how you finish your work (media, technique, quality) then they will look at your roughs and decide from there if it has potential. This is also where making contacts can be useful, if you already have some form of relationship with someone from the publishers, talked through twitter/emails or met them at a convention, it can make a difference when you are pitching. I learnt that you have to tailor your submission to the publisher that you are pitching to. Advice that you can also use for your portfolio, you should make sure that what you are showing is relevant to who you are showing it to. In publishing terms, you need to research the style that the publishers usually go to and see if you think you'd fit it. If you don't you're showing that you haven't and you also want the best for your work, so it's in your best interest to find a publisher who will do the most for your idea.

A long day of Mr James Teacher by James Harvey
Blank Slate

He gave us a case study of sorts in the form of Daryl Cunningham, who had apparently been trying to be published for awhile before finally getting a deal. He became Blank Slates best selling book with Psychiatric Tales - proving that you should stick at it. If you are confident in your ideas and work then you should persist. Cunningham was prolific on Blogger and gained recognition from artists such as Scott McCloud. Something that Martin pointed out as very useful when trying to promote your work, established artists will often help (although there will be some exceptions). Send your work to thos who inspire you in order to get feedback, if they like it they'll often give you a quote that can be used for the book when it comes to promotion.

Copyright was also mentioned, something that definitely confuses the heck out of me! Although Martin broke it down pretty easily, there are different copyrights and you can retain the copyright by giving publishers a timed license that runs out and returns the rights to the creator after a period of time (often when the print stage is done). However if you have a character that the publishers or anyone else is interested then you surrender all rights when you sell them over. He made a point of saying that we should always be careful with what you sign, be fully aware of what you're agreeing too.

Jim Medway - Playing Out

Blank Slate
I particularly like this because it's a linocut! Inspiring indeed!

When talking about publishing, it was inevitable that we would discuss its future, with the rise in digital publishing. So, is there still a need for traditional publishers? Martin assured us that print would never completely die out, maybe take abit of a hit whilst ebooks etc rise but it would always remain. Print will always appeal to those who prefer physical media, for comic books/graphic novels in particular - the ebook market is not particularly appealing simply because they're not meant to be restricted to one format on a screen. Digital publishing also opens the door for piracy, something that is incredibly hard to control once digital sales are in place. I definitely agree with all that Martin said, I personally work in a book shop and e-readers have recently been introduced into our sales. Sales are steady (I even own an e-reader myself) however there are many hours that i've wasted talking to people about the e-reader, only for them to turn around and pick up a paperback before they head out. E-readers are popular but, particularly for the comic book market, print is still much more appealing.

So i'll finish on some advice Martin gave us. Don't - be arrogant, be difficult to work with, be unfocused, send stuff that is nothing to do with what they do, ask for honest feedback unless prepared for it.

Martins talk was very useful, to be able to see how being active on the internet and using it in a useful and creative way can  influence your career, and to see what it is that those in the industry are looking for from those who want in. After this talk it's also good to be able to see what exactly we are able to do, I never had an interest in comics before coming to university and attending talks similar to this one, which changed my perspective and realise that there's more to them than muscley superhero stories.

So go look at their website, they have some fantastic artists on the books!

http://www.blankslatebooks.co.uk/


Up next: Printmaking - Working as a freelance artist by Ann Bridges.